The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1887-06-12

frov. Z3:Z9 to az- VINO natn
woe, who hath sorrow, who hath
contentious, who hath wounds with
out cause?" "They that tarry long
at the wine" "Look not thou upon
the wine when it is red, etc. At the
last il biteth like serpent and sting
eth like an adder"
Isaiah 5:11. 12-" Woe unto them
that rise up early In the morning
that they may follow strong drink
and the harp and the viol, the tabret
and pipe and wine are in their feasts,
but they regard not the work of the
Lord" (Again is opprObium ex-
pressed.)
Isaiah 28:l-"Woe to the crown
OF pride, to the drunkards OF Ephraim
whose glorious beauty is fading
flower" Natural result.) =.
jeremiah Sly" Babylon hath
been a golden cup in the Lord
hands that made all the earth drunk
en-. The nations have drunken Of
her wine, therefore the nations are
mad"
The language, though fgurative,
expresses the natural sequence.
Hosea iv, 1l-"Wine and new wine
take away the heart"
In Mr.. Sikes's quotation of Deu-
teronomy xxx, 6, among the texts
showing the general use of wine. he
is certainly unfortunate, since the
words are: Neither have ye drunk
wine or strong drink that ye might
know that am the Lord your God.
III Samuel, vi, 10, relates to the
| giving bread and wine to the people
by David after his dancing before
the ark, for which he was reproved
by Michael.
III Samuel xvi, /, 2-This text, in
stead of showing a custom of drink.
ing, argues TO the contrary, for we
find that for a large company the
asses were loaded with 200 loaves of
bread, 100 punches of raisins and 100
punches of summer fruit for food, "
and only one bottle of wine and this
specifically for medical purposes,
'for such as be faint in the wilder
ness"
The quotations from Hester all
show merely the continued de-
bauches of the King Ahasuerus
which we're a constant reproach to
his court job, gives an account
of how Jobs sons and daughters
were drinking wine in their Oldest
brothers house, when the house fell
on them and killed them, from which
we may infer that if they had not
been so engaged, they would probably
have been elsewhere, and so escaped
the disaster.
He next refers to Prov. BIG, Z
Give strong drink unto him that is
ready to perish, aud wine unto those
that be of heavy hearts. Let him
drink and forget his poverty, and re-
member his misery no more.
The two preceding verses, however,
by some strange accident, escaped
Mr.. Sikes's observation, namely; 1T
is not for Kings to drink wine, nor
Princes strong drink; lest they drink
and forget the law, and pervert the
Judgment of any Of the afflicted" 1t
is also an oversight that the reverend
apologist omits to quote Prov. PLY
He that loveth wine shall not be
rich;" and again, Prov. 1921, %,
the giving of bread to the hungry
and water to the thirsty, is advised.
(Not wine it will be remarked.)
1t is strange that these passages
should, have escaped so learned a Bib
lical scholar.
The next quotation, Eccles. ii, 3,
so plainly associates the drinking OF
wine with the acquaintance of folly
that it acts as a boomerang.
The advice to drink and be merry,
contained in the next quotation,
Eccles. tx, z, is based only on the as
sumption OF the grossest materialism,
and humiliation after death, which
the reverend gentleman will,.I think,
hardly indorse, any more than he
will the worldly sentiment contained
in Eccles. X, 8, namely: That wine
maketh merry, out money answereth
all things" and his next quotation,
from Solomons song, is still more un-
fortune, since wine is deprecated in
favor of love for the church.
Daniel. v, 10, gives the account of
the wine festival of Belshazzar, on
which occasion his fate was sealed by
the handwriting on the wall, and
verse 23d conveys the inference that
this very wire drinking was one of
the sins that brought about his pun
ishment.
Later on Mr.. Skies quotes words
as follows: Promised TO Judah in
in such plenty as that his eyes should
be red with wine" Gen. 49:1l, II.
The average reader would naturally
construe this as being a promise
made by God, but an examination of
the text shows it to be merely the
dying blessing OF Jacob, conferred
on his children and couched in the
hyperbolical imagery of the East,
Just as in the same blessing he char
acterizes Judah as Lions whelp,"
Isaachar as strong ass, and Dan
as "a serpent and an adder in the
path"
The whole language is fgurative,
just as in another passage he cites
which gives wine the quality OF max
ing merry the heart OF God and man.
Mr.. Skies will hardly take this liter
ally and maintain that God makes
His heart merry by the actual alb
sorptiou Of wine.
In another quotation from the
104th Psalm, in addition to the use
of wine, oil is praised as a means OF
making the face shine Now, to be
really consistent in his profession of
taking the Old and New Testsments
as the only infallible rule OF faith and
practice land it will be noticed that
he draws almost wholly from the Old
Testament in support of the wine
drinking habit, why does not Mr..
Skies anoint his face with oil, keep
the Passover, and observe hundred
other ceremonies which have the in
dorsement of the old Scriptures2 But
land this applies to and disposes Of
his whole argument on the use of
wine on the sacri6cial altar, does
not Mr. Skies know that that book is